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Dr. Verna Yiu Biography

Dr. Verna Yiu, BMSc, MD, FRCPC
Interim Dean

Dr. Verna Yiu is the interim dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and an alumna of the medical school at the University of Alberta. Dr. Yiu graduated from medicine with distinction in 1986. She went on to a pediatric residency at the U of A, and was chief resident during her fourth year before completing a fellowship in pediatric nephrology at the Children's Hospital at Harvard University. She returned to the U of A in 1994 as a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics.

At that time there were only two practising pediatric nephrologists in the city, serving Edmonton, northern Alberta, northern British Columbia, Saskatchewan and part of the Northwest Territories. Dr. Yiu advocated for her pediatric patients and helped to change the policy for organ donation in Edmonton so that preference is now given to children under the age of 17. Dr. Yiu became the faculty’s divisional director for pediatric nephrology in 2000. From 1997 to 2000, Dr. Yiu took on an additional role as the Stollery Children's Hospital medical director. During this time, she established a triage committee and triage system, a Stollery operations committee, and helped to benchmark acuity and bed utilization.

Dr. Yiu became the assistant dean for student affairs in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry in 2000. Programs developed during her term include:

A student advisers program.
The first humanism program for medical students in Canada (which includes the student clinician ceremony to mark medical students’ transition to their clerkship years).
Resident and faculty teaching awards recognizing compassion and humanist values.

Dr. Yiu also helped students develop and promote:

The SHINE clinic, a student-run clinic helping inner-city Edmonton youth.
The student-run interdisciplinary Health Sciences Journal.
A student-led initiative to supply impoverished people in Kenya with clean water through the use of innovative ceramic water filters.

During this tenure Dr. Yiu was chair of the faculty’s education advisory committee from 2006 to 2008, and was a key member of the accreditation response team for the medical school. She also chaired the educational subcommittee on objectives, and led the development of the faculty-wide educational mandate as well as the curriculum objectives of the undergraduate medical education program.

On a national level, Dr. Yiu chaired the student affairs admissions committee for the Association of Faculties of Medicine in Canada from 2006 to 2008, and she organized workshops and agendas for the association’s national meetings.

Also in 2006, the U of A’s Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine program was inaugurated. Dr. Yiu is co-director of this program (along with Dr. Pamela Brett-Maclean). Key initiatives have been developed through the program that incorporates the arts in the science of medicine. These include:

Narrative reflective practice.
A film narrative series for medical students.
Forum theatre for first-year medical students.
Writing workshops.
Invited speakers/writers/artists.
A monthly speaker series.

This unique program won an award from the Mental Health Association of Canada in 2008 recognizing its important contributions to improving the work environment of an institution.

Dr. Yiu has received several honours during her career. She won substantive awards for her skills in teaching problem-based courses and clinical skills. During her residency, she received several awards in the Department of Pediatrics. She was named resident of the year by the graduating medical classes in both 1990 and 1991, an award given only to one or two residents per year. On her return to the University of Alberta as a faculty member and clinician, she and her colleague Dr. Frances Harley won an award for Excellence in Clinical Care for their work in pediatric nephrology, an honour given by the Capital Regional Health Authority.

Dr. Yiu has been chosen for teaching awards by medical students every year from 1998 to 2006 and in 2008. In addition, she was named honorary class president by the medical class of 2006. She was nominated for the Women with Distinction Award (YWCA), and was one of 35 Chinese-Albertans selected for an award commemorating Alberta’s centennial in 2005.

In 2008, Dr. Yiu took over as acting vice-dean for the faculty due to an unexpected medical leave of absence. In September 2009, Dr. Yiu became the vice-dean of faculty affairs for the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. Her activities in this role included:

Representing the FoMD in the development of an innovative and unique alternate funding model for academic physicians.
Liaison with different agencies including Alberta Health Services, the Alberta Medical Association and regional medical staff associations.
Leading the search and selection for key faculty positions.
Co-chairing the development of the new master’s in health sciences education program.
Dealing with appeals and awards.
Representing the dean in his absence.

Despite the administrative load, Dr. Yiu continued her full-time clinical activities with pediatric nephrology patients. Her advocacy for her patients included the development and planning of an annual “kidney kamp,” which sponsors about 20 pediatric kidney patients to attend a summer camp for one week. Her research interests are primarily in the clinical realm, including treatment of FSGS, hypertension, and treatment of HUS. She presently sits on an international steering committee for a thrombotic microangiopathy registry headed by Dr. Howard Trachtman in New York. She chairs the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada Specialty Committee of Nephrology which oversees all the training programs for nephrology in Canada, and she is a member of the advisory board for the Gold Humanism Honors Society, based in New York.

Dr. Yiu took over as the interim dean of the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry in June 2011. Her current mandate is to ensure the faculty maintains its standard of excellence through continued research, innovative clinical and educational program supports, and ensure that excellence is rewarded.

About the Faculty

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta in Edmonton has a storied history of success in world-class research, education and patient care. Established in 1913, it is now home to 20 departments, seven divisions, 13 research groups, 27 centres and institutions, and eight national networks of Centres of Excellence.

Renowned biochemist J.B. Collip, who taught at the U of A in the early part of the 20th century, set in motion the wheels of this research powerhouse with his major contribution to the development and purification of insulin. This laid the groundwork for what is now known around the world as the Edmonton Protocol, the standard care in clinical islet transplantation for the treatment of diabetes.

Today, the Faculty is one of Canada's premier health sciences institutes and known internationally for its innovative medical education programs and for advancing medical knowledge through scientific research. With more than 50 residency programs, students are offered an abundant diversity of choices.

Clinical Collaborations

The Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has cultivated a unique and collaborative relationship with Alberta Health Services. The partnership has created a rich environment for education and research, and has allowed the two organizations to attract some of the top medical minds in the world. Students learn in an atmosphere of continual discovery, and witness and participate as secrets of disease are unlocked.

Renowned research groups, funding success

Researchers in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry explore every aspect of health and disease, from evidence-based orthodontics to pediatric pathology to changing public policy. Many of the research groups are recognized globally.

University of Alberta researchers are among the most competitive in the country in terms of funding from the major federal granting councils and other sources. To date, the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry has generated more than $182 million in research dollars, making up approximately 40 per cent of the university's total.

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Dr. Verna Yiu Biography

About the Faculty

Clinical Collaborations

Renowned research groups, funding success

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